Experimental and simulation investigation of the effects of Er3+ ions on the physico-mechanical, optical, mechanical, and radiation-protective characteristics of B2O3-CaO-Bi2O3 glasses

This work examines a number of synthetic glasses with the molecular compositions 60B₂O₃, 5CaO, 5Bi₂O₃, and xEr₂O₃ (BBCEr-x, where x = 0.0–2.0 mol%) to determine their structural, optical, mechanical, physical, and γ-rays protective properties. Glass was shown to be in an amorphous state by XRD measurements. The density (ρ) of BBCEr-x grew from 3.14 to 3.32 g/cm³ when the molar addition of Er³⁺ ions increased from 0.0 to 2.0 mol%. The absorbance spectra of the BBCEr-x samples showed seven absorption bands related to the Er3 + electronic transitions (4f–4f). It has been evaluated the dependency of elastic moduli, including Poisson’s ratio (σ), and the efficacy of shielding against incoming gamma rays on [Er₂O₃] mol%. The Makishima-Mackenzie theory was used to calculate the mechanical parameters. As a function of [Er₂O₃] mol%, the micro-hardness (H) of the Vickers increases while the ratio of the Passion decreases. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) has been calculated in the energy range of 0.015–15 MeV using the XCOM and Phys-X/PSD programs and has been compared with Monte Carlo simulations performed using the Geant4 code. The linear attenuation coefficient (LAC), transmission factor (TF), and fast neutron removal cross-sections (Σ_R) all showed monotonic dependence on [Er₂O₃] mol%. With photon energies of 0.015–15 MeV, the sample BBCEr-0.0 had the lowest values of MAC, measuring 34.418–0.029 cm²/g. This result reflects the interaction between density and [Er₂O₃] impacts on the mechanical and radiation shielding capabilities of the synthesized glasses. The greatest MAC values were found in the BBCEr-2.0 sample, which ranged from 39.6 to 0.037 cm²/g. It was found that Σ_R approximates the molar volume (V_m) and exhibits the same trending behavior. This study demonstrated that radiation shielding and mechanical properties could both be customized for indoor or outdoor scientific or industrial usage.